Culture as a Coping Resource: Depression after Parental Death in Japan and United States

• In Event: 598 - Section on Sociology of Mental Health Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 04. Life Course

Abstract

Studies on health disparities have examined why certain people are more prone to poor health compared to others by focusing on micro-level factors, such as social support. This study considers culture as a more macro-level coping resource and examines whether culture moderates the negative impact of parental death on depression by conducting cross-national research.
The death of a parent serves as a potential traumatic life event and has been linked to depression in both Japan and the United States. Yet the ways of grieving are framed differently across cultures. At the individual level, the majority of the bereaved people in both Japan and the United States attempt to maintain continuing bonds with the deceased. Being complementary to the individual-level desire, Japanese death-related beliefs and practices seem to provide a tool to maintain bonds. In contrast, American death-related beliefs and practices may be at odds with the individual desire by encouraging the bereaved individuals to detach themselves from the deceased. In other words, Japanese culture may work as macro-level support to the bereaved, while American culture may not work in such a way.
The results suggested that bereaved respondents were more depressed than non-bereaved respondents. However, the results rejected the hypothesis that American bereaved are more likely to be depressed than Japanese bereaved, indicating that culture may not work as a moderator. One reason may be that culture is too broad and abstract to be viewed as supportive. The role of culture as a macro-level moderator may be limited.

Author

• Daisuke Ito, Georgia State University